Patent Research - Tethrd

[MIbowhunter49]

Well, if Apple can patent "swiping gesture with finger on screen".....then we have an issue. Needs reform.

I disagree. The time and research that goes I to ergonomics, ensuring people get a Dopamine hit, and all the other fun stuff tech companies do is not free.

 

[bj139]

I disagree. The time and research that goes I to ergonomics, ensuring people get a Dopamine hit, and all the other fun stuff tech companies do is not free.

If we can spend a lot of time and money on patenting fingers, where will it end? The patent on the universal finger gesture has long since expired, IMHO.

 

[dalton916]

Chinyrd

 

[woodsdog2]

Chinyrd

It is somewhat disappointing isn't it?? Aahhhh......the almighty renminbi....

 

[raisins]

The following story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual historical events or people is purely coincidental. Copyright application pending.

circa 2010 Treestands are heavy, bulky, and noisy. There's got to be a better way.

circa 2011 Turns out there is this thing called a saddle, which went away as it was never very popular. You can still find some used or DIY your own. I need to find one or figure out how to do all this. I wonder if anyone else knows about this?

circa 2013 Hey! There's a bunch of people looking for solutions, just like me. SH.com What a great thing internet forums are! Bringing together so many like minded individuals sharing ideas and helping each other. This is awesome!

circa 2015 What fun all of this saddle hunting camradery is! I mean, hunting is great, but getting to socialize and share ideas with so many cool folks around the country is even better. Sitdrags. Ameristeps. Klemz platforms. So many great ideas! I really feel good about my identity as a saddle hunter! We should have, like, t-shirts or something.

circa 2016 Making YouTube videos is fun! With all these great ideas shared on saddlehunter.com, there is an endless amount of content to be created to spread the joy of saddle hunting through videos. We really need a better designed platform though. Who around here knows anything about engineering and manufacturing one? Let's put our brains together and solve this problem!

2017 Interacting online is great and all, but wouldn't it be great to actually get together in person. We could call it, like, "Saddlerama", or something. Let's find some place to meet. We can pretend we are hunting swamp rats, while we have a great time sharing ideas in person. BTW, this new production saddle is cool...but why is it so heavy? And what is with these buckles? Who knows how to "fabric weld"? Let's work together to solve this problem!

2018 These fireside chats are awesome! Isn't it annoying putting up with the limited existing commercial options? Especially when some of them don't seem to listen very well to what we want in saddle hunting kit. Why do we have to put up with them anyway? We should start a company. But shhh! It's a secret!

2019 Hey now! What is with these other companies popping up? Don't they know we already have our own saddle hunter company? And look at those competitors' products! I mean, I thought this community was about making progress? Sheesh!

2020 Boy this community sure has grown/changed. All these new people....this place just feels different. Maybe we should move our OG group to other social media We can always pop in once in a while to check on the little people and steer any conversation we don't like. People will still see our stuff as long as are crafty with our product placement in hip new hunting video content creations.

2021 Wow, people just don't appreciate all that we are doing for the saddle hunting community. This forum has lost its way. Don't these people realize that they don't need to come together to work collaboratively to solve problems, they just need to buy our latest patent pending product that was inspired by others' contributions here? Boy, I sure am glad I was able to enjoy sh.com back when it was great. It's too bad what has happened to it.

Interestingly, in the 1990s (ish) before TMA, you could get lightweight tree stands (loc on limit, etc) because the things didn't have to be so overbuilt. If those still existed at a competitive price, I think saddle hunting would be less popular. Back then, you could get a 7 lbs tree stand for right around 100 bucks.

 

[Fl Canopy Stalker]

I am the patent engineer at Tethrd. In addition to the patents granted, we have several unpublished patent applications submitted and we continue to submit patent applications as we develop new ideas to make saddle hunting better for all. The patents are expensive and time consuming, but they are the only enforceable means to protect Tethrd's inventions. It is smart business.

I agree from the standpoint that is the only enforceable means, and it’s smart business, however for patents to be approved, it has to be a design or improvement that the common person cannot come up with or “non obvious”. Being that most of us on this forum are working class people who are not manufacturers or engineers, come up with ideas or share them, then most of these ideas are obvious. So why patent them? What happens if people begin writing the patent office with proof that these patent pending innovations are actually just DIY ideas normal working class people came up with and we’re already utilizing non commercially?

 

[BassBoysLLP]

I see little risk when I examine our patent claims against the prior art. We have run into cases where we needed to adjust or pull claims based on duty of candor and good faith, but overall our claims are founded when evaluated against the prior art.

 

[Fl Canopy Stalker]

I see little risk when I examine our patent claims against the prior art. We have run into cases where we needed to adjust or pull claims based on duty of candor and good faith, but overall our claims are founded when evaluated against the prior art.

Do those pulled patents get removed from the website though because I see patent pending on everything from daisy chain for gear hangers, to buried Amsteel which is pretty common practice in the marine industry. Just curious if all those abandoned patents remain “patent pending” on the website to try to dissuade others from utilizing the prior existing “innovation”

 

[Fl Canopy Stalker]

I see little risk when I examine our patent claims against the prior art. We have run into cases where we needed to adjust or pull claims based on duty of candor and good faith, but overall our claims are founded when evaluated against the prior art.

And for the record lawyers rarely admit their client are in the wrong... I mean what good is a defense attorney for a murderer, if the attorney got up and said my client didn’t kill this man the way these prior witnesses claim he did, he actually did it like this? Not saying the company you represent made an exact replica, I mean none of us DIY’ers throw the logo on our ideas..... I am just saying as a whole, the idea was implemented here and you run to the patent office with it, I am not against it, I just think if people here are truly bothered by what this company did, that they all take the time to write the patent office with pictures of the concepts that have later been patent pending so that the Patent office has a true chance to do their homework free of fancy law lingo because most of these people working patents only research the paperwork submitted and have zero idea what is “non obvious” and what is not.

 

[BassBoysLLP]

And for the record lawyers rarely admit their client are in the wrong... I mean what good is a defense attorney for a murderer, if the attorney got up and said my client didn’t kill this man the way these prior witnesses claim he did, he actually did it like this? Not saying the company you represent made an exact replica, I mean none of us DIY’ers throw the logo on our ideas..... I am just saying as a whole, the idea was implemented here and you run to the patent office with it, I am not against it, I just think if people here are truly bothered by what this company did, that they all take the time to write the patent office with pictures of the concepts that have later been patent pending so that the Patent office has a true chance to do their homework free of fancy law lingo because most of these people working patents only research the paperwork submitted and have zero idea what is “non obvious” and what is not.

The patent office is way more diligent than you believe. For example, the HYS strap patent was brought into question as there are several simple daisy chains already on the market. This wasn't just researching submitted applications but something as simple as Google as we were provided multiple references to defend. At the end of the day, we have a design and utility patent on the HYS strap.

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[GCTerpfan]

The patent office is way more diligent than you believe. For example, the HYS strap patent was brought into question as there are several simple daisy chains already on the market. This wasn't just researching submitted applications but something as simple as Google as we were provided multiple references to defend. At the end of the day, we have a design and utility patent on the HYS strap.

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@BassBoysLLP it may help if you clarify what features of the Predator you hold a patent for. It appears that the patent is limited to the traction and the wings on the edge. Is that the case? It may help clear up a lot of the confusion in this thread if can clarify that.

 

[BassBoysLLP]

The utility patent is written around the wings (toe hooks) and the side traction. The design patent is more ornamental and not limited to the features claimed in the utility patent. Both have provided Tethrd value in protecting our design.



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[Fl Canopy Stalker]

The patent office is way more diligent than you believe. For example, the HYS strap patent was brought into question as there are several simple daisy chains already on the market. This wasn't just researching submitted applications but something as simple as Google as we were provided multiple references to defend. At the end of the day, we have a design and utility patent on the HYS strap.

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If they granted you a patent on a daisy chain with a g hook then they are not diligent at all. I know a man who holds a patent on dying leather and he said it was the easiest royalties he ever made, it was just expensive and time consuming. It is neither here nor there. All I am saying is that company made a killing off the backs of DIY guys who didn’t have the resources or know how, or even the urge for some to patent. They literally wanted to help other saddle hunters for love of the sport. Filing patents and trying to attack a small business competitor because you know they do not have the resources to fight you does nothing to further saddle hunting which makes all those you tube videos as well as a mission statement bogus in my opinion. But I’m a nobody. I just know none of my money will ever go that direction again and word of mouth can eventually trump brilliant marketing. Thank you for the responses though, it was greatly appreciated.

 

[bj139]

I thought the patent office was just an archiving office and didn't search for conflicts with any existing patents anymore. Am I wrong?

 

[BassBoysLLP]

I thought the patent office was just an archiving office and didn't search for conflicts with any existing patents anymore. Am I wrong?

They look hard. Not everything you submit makes it through. We often do or pay for a patent search before submitting anything. Otherwise it is wasted money.

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[Fl Canopy Stalker]

I thought the patent office was just an archiving office and didn't search for conflicts with any existing patents anymore. Am I wrong?

They do only check your patent claims against existing patents which is why I said perhaps people should write in with proof these ideas were in use prior to someone patenting them to prove that the ideas are obvious, that would make getting patents on other peoples ideas much much harder

 

[BassBoysLLP]

This is not true. They examine non patent sources in addition to patents.

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[Fl Canopy Stalker]

This is not true. They examine non patent sources in addition to patents.

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Again they issued you a patent for a daisy chain with an extra piece of webbing and a g hook, so they are definitely not examining non patent sources or they would see that stuff has been sold or used in military, rock climbing and tactical rescue operations for a long time

 

[BassBoysLLP]

Again they issued you a patent for a daisy chain with an extra piece of webbing and a g hook, so they are definitely not examining non patent sources or they would see that stuff has been sold or used in military, rock climbing and tactical rescue operations for a long time

Show me an infringing reference please. They looked hard on this one and sent us multiple commercial products.

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[Fl Canopy Stalker]

Show me an infringing reference please. They looked hard on this one and sent us multiple commercial products.

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I did not say y’all infringed on any product. I said you simply did not create a new or unique product that required a patent. How about those g hooks being exactly the same as the metolius crash pad buckles, or the sea and summit buckles (except y’all made a left and a right with a tiny barb inward, instead of a left facing only that just hooks downward. They both function the same regardless - and I know because I own all three). See you are claiming that your company did not infringe, I am not foolish enough to claim infringement of existing patents, as a patent professional or attorney I am sure you’ve created wording to word around any potential claims of the sort. I am simply stating that they also did not create or “innovate” as you put it. They took the ideas from people on this forum, commercialized those ideas and ran to a patent office to prevent others from making them cheaper or better. I just hope someone fights the ridiculous cease and desists, because this nonsense does not further saddle hunting, it stagnates it. True competition drives product quality up and prices down. That is all. No need for you making claims that I said they infringed, because I never said that. I simply said that daisy chains and g hooks are not new or unique ideas, and the fact that you want patent Infringement evidence further demonstrates that the concerns are for existing patents and not non patent products or “non obvious improvements”.